Does Leaving Your Computer On Make a Noticable Difference??

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drlove

Ph.D. in Pussyology
Oct 14, 2001
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The doctor is in
Just wondering if leaving your computer on continuously makes a noticable difference in your power bill, as opposed to putting it on stand-by or turning it off after each use. How much power does it actually use, anyway??
 
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drlove said:
Just wondering if leaving your computer on continuosly makes a noticable difference in your power bill, as opposed to putting it on stand-by or turning it off after each use. How much power does it actually use, anyway??
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In my experience it doesnt make too much difference. I have several computers that are substantially larger than your regular desktop that are on 24/7 and my bill still isnt too badly affected.

On the whole, computers dont take too much power, and if you set the power management to idle the CPU and spin down the hard disc after a period of non activity, it will consume even less power. It does take a few seconds to come back to life, but nowhere near as long as a full bootup or coming out of hibernation.

As always there is the security consideration as well, especially with a broadband connection. Make sure your account is password protected with a strong password and you have a good firewall / anti virus.
 
drlove said:
Just wondering if leaving your computer on continuosly makes a noticable difference in your power bill, as opposed to putting it on stand-by or turning it off after each use. How much power does it actually use, anyway??
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Depends on if you're running a desktop with a ton of stuff attached to it or if its just a laptop. I think it makes some difference in my bill and if nothing else I just do it for conservation purposes. Save a little energy anywhere I can to help the greater good.
 
I can say that the one good thing about Windows Vista is that it's very easy and quick to shut off now.
 
Since I only use my computer for maybe a couple hours a day (on average), it made a noticeable difference in my hydro bill when I started turning it off rather than leaving it running.
 
Apart from the utility bills, turning it off at least once a day helps your internet and applications run faster and smoother as your cache is cleared and lot of redundant backend tasks and services are stopped.
Do not restart. Do a total shutdown and wait for a few minutes.
 
I see no difference, it just good practice to turn off your computer when your not using it, but it does not really take up that much power on the hydro bill my fans and heaters take up that drain on the bill. but if i am going to add on a spycam in my apartment that might be a small difference.
 
Funny you say that Ms Apple because your computer has fans and heaters in it. (fans for the case/psu/cpu and the psu is basically a heater that dispurses excess electricy 110v to 12v via heat).

And don't forget about the monitor. If you have an older CRT monitor it also is consuming electricy and if it is a larger one, it can actually chew up a LOT.
 
I have a flat screen and I turn off my pc or laptop from more 6 hours of use . as much as i love doing my cam shows I don't really need to have my pc or laptop glued to my hip.

but there is no noticed in the bill, its been under 100$ for the last 4 years. so about $45 a month is what I pay.
 
Do you unplug the ac adapter too? Since you have a laptop I assume you leave it plugged in until it is fully charged and when you turn it off, you leave the adapter plugged in?

Funny, we don't notice the little things but adapters for battery chargers, cellphones etc use a continuous draw of electicity. Even tho it IS a small amount, it adds up! (I learned this from live aid a couple of weeks ago lol).
 
point to consider

Powering off your PC may have other costs to consider. Every device in your PC has it's own circuit board and the motherboard is a huge board. All of these boards have solder joints, there are thousands upon thousands in every PC. When you power down for any length of time these solder joints cool down and contract. When you turn the PC back on they expand .... big deal right? Yeah, it could be ...... if any of these thousands of of solder joints is less than kosher (known as a cold solder joint) you can have hardware failures, sometimes intermittent problems, some hard failures. Constant contracting & expanding can cause a marginal solder joint to fail whereas keeping it at a constant temperature by leaving the device run may prolong it's uptime.

If you're pretty handy with a PC's hardware this may not be a big deal but for those who have to pay to get them repaired it just may cost you more in repairs than the difference in hydro bill. What I do and recommend to others is to leave the PC on but turn the monitor off, esp if you have a CRT monitor as that is the single biggest power draw. If it's an LCD it most likely has a sleep mode. I've been doing this for over 20 years and have had dozens of PCs and 1 bad sound card in all that time. Works for me .......

Something to consider when deciding which way to go ......
 
slurp said:
Powering off your PC may have other costs to consider. Every device in your PC has it's own circuit board and the motherboard is a huge board. All of these boards have solder joints, there are thousands upon thousands in every PC. When you power down for any length of time these solder joints cool down and contract. When you turn the PC back on they expand .... big deal right? Yeah, it could be ...... if any of these thousands of of solder joints is less than kosher (known as a cold solder joint) you can have hardware failures, sometimes intermittent problems, some hard failures. Constant contracting & expanding can cause a marginal solder joint to fail whereas keeping it at a constant temperature by leaving the device run may prolong it's uptime.

If you're pretty handy with a PC's hardware this may not be a big deal but for those who have to pay to get them repaired it just may cost you more in repairs than the difference in hydro bill. What I do and recommend to others is to leave the PC on but turn the monitor off, esp if you have a CRT monitor as that is the single biggest power draw. If it's an LCD it most likely has a sleep mode. I've been doing this for over 20 years and have had dozens of PCs and 1 bad sound card in all that time. Works for me .......

Something to consider when deciding which way to go ......
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Yeah, that matters if you plan on keeping the same motherboard for 10 years or more. But who here is working on a system with a motherboard that is over 10 years old? If you are, it means you're likely using a slot 1 Pentium/Celeron - or the Slot A AMD equivalent... which means you're at least 5 years overdue for an upgrade.

And I'll give you a nickel to buy yourself a better computer.

I shut my PC down completely when not in use and then turn off the power bar it's attached to.

In my company it is policy to have all PCs shut down. Why? The Blaster Virus and similar copycat viruses.

Simply put... a virus can't spread to a computer over the internet if the computer is off. And if a virus gets through your AV/Firewall setup, having systems shut off will at least slow the spread of the virus.

Plus the electricity savings (in electricity saved on the computer and also lower air conditioning costs) are an added bonus.

Also, if your computer is on during a thunderstorm, one good power surge and *poof*.... you're in the market for a new system. Or if there is a power failure and the power comes on, it is not unusual that there is a surge when the power comes back, which in turn can cause damage. On the other hand, if your computer is off WITH the power bar being off, it is unlikely any harm will come to your system in either of those circumstances.

For a non-server system, the benefits to completely powering off outweigh the disadvantages.

And this is coming from someone with over 10 years of direct IT experience.
 
Ask your self this..............Do serves ever shut down??????


As for the energy costs it is 350 to 450 watts.
 
papasmerf said:
Ask your self this..............Do serves ever shut down??????


As for the energy costs it is 350 to 450 watts.
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Sure they do... when the go out of service or need service.

But generally, they get left on because as I said in my last post, "For a non-server system, the benefits to completely powering off outweigh the disadvantages.
 
osanowo said:
If all the devices were working at their maximum...
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That depends on the device. I have had some systems that use that when idling. It all depends on how big the system is. If you're looking at a workstation/server with multiple CPUs, a high end graphics subsystem, a few gigs of ram and a disk array with 15,000 rpm disks, hooked up to a couple of big LCDs, 350 watts of power consumption at idle would not be surprising... especially if power saving features are not enabled.

As a matter of fact, I have an old DEC Alpha 2100a... and that thing uses 600-700 watts when idle... mind you that system has 23 SCSI hard disks, a StorageWorks cabinet, a couple of SCSI backplanes, a DLT tape drive and a CPU that uses anywhere from 100-150 watts depending on load. The thing has 4 power supplies... two of which run on 220 volts.

But for a home system, 400 watts is the typical peak power draw... unless you're a weirdo like me and have a DEC Alpha as one of your systems.

Considering the money some people on this board probably have, I would think that at least some of you have truly high end systems.

But if you can afford a truly high end system, you probably can also afford the extra electricity cost.
 
I've been running a couple of 19" racks full of machinery for a long time. they sleep when idle and i use LCD screens when able.

end result;
only about $800/yr in electrical bills and all these machines pay for themselves many times over.

the wearNtear from constantly starting and stopping machines is actually more expensive in terms of having to replace disk units in RAID arrays etc. Most of the machines are 2 or 4 [plus] CPUS and tend to be heavily loaded all the time. [yes, the rumours are true, I really do earn lots of geekpoints just by being awake]


but then, I'm probably the exception not the rule.
 
zekestone said:
But if you can afford a truly high end system, you probably can also afford the extra electricity cost.
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It's not a question of affording it, I'd just rather spend the extra money on fun rather than give it to the utility company. :)
 
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